D-Link DVC-1000 i2eye Broadband VideoPhone Review
Date : Sunday, 29 June 2003
By: Stygian
Provided By: D-Link Systems Inc.

Introduction

Staying in touch with people who are far away has been one of the mainstays of technology throughout the ages. Indeed, to support the vast infrastructures in place, fast and efficient communication is not a luxury, but a necessity nowadays, and when one thinks about it, much of our communication equipment not only supports infrastructure, but is an essential part of that infrastructure. When one thinks about it, a phone is pretty much a prerequisite to living in the modern world; some would say that Internet access is also the same. Following the lead that voice communications have taken, video communications have been promised for some time now. Watching any number of non-Apocalyptic future TV shows will certainly yield some form of video communication, whether it be through Star Trek or that episode of The Simpsons where Lisa is thrust into the future after her encounter with the fortune-teller. But a number of things have prevented the videophone from being widely adopted, from price, to the simple fact that many people don't want to be seen as they value the inherent privacy of a phone.

But for those wanting videoconferencing ability, there are more problems than just price. Initially, videophone abilities were limited to PC's equipped with webcams and sometimes hard-to-configure conferencing software. This left something to be desired, because if placing a videophone call was so difficult, many people simply would not want to deal with the trouble, and hence there wouldn't be a large user base. It didn't matter if the technology was awesome; if no one's using it for communication, there's little incentive for new users to adopt it. D-Link saw these problems, and designed the DVC-1000 "i2eye" VideoPhone to address these issues, and add several other features at the same time.

Just by reading the initial specs of the DVC-1000, one gets an idea of its target audience. The DVC-1000 is a completely standalone device; it does not need to be connected to a computer for usage, and hence requires no software installation. It is therefore not just a webcam that can be used for teleconferencing, but rather it was designed from the ground up to be used for videoconferencing. It conforms to the ITU H.323 standard for voice and video communication over the Internet, and has its own 10Mbps network interface built-in. Video and audio output are via RCA jacks for a quick connection to your TV/VCR, and the only other thing that is needed is a broadband Internet connection. There is also an option to use a telephone as a handset for private communication, and this also has additional benefits.

D-Link claims their i2eye DVC-1000 Videophone is a revolutionary device that aims to bring videoconferencing to the masses in an easy-to-use, affordable package. Indeed, they even have compared their product to the invention of the telephone, and the patenting of the television set. Certainly, D-Link has confidence in their videophone - but can it perform well, and more importantly, is it easy to use? We shall see...

Specifications

The DVC-1000 is meant to be used in conjunction with a TV, and placed on top like a set-top unit. It connects to a TV or other device using standard RCA cables, which are included. It is about the size of a hard cover book, and not heavy at all. At the heart of the unit is a camera that supports a resolution of up to 352x288 at 30fps, though this figure may vary according to available bandwidth and so forth. The unit does have a built in microphone for speakerphone mode, but it is advisable to use a microphone or telephone so that full-duplex mode will be enabled; when in speakerphone mode voice communication is only available in half-duplex mode, meaning that only one side can speak and be heard at any given time. When connecting a telephone for use as a handset to the DVC-1000, you won't be able to use the telephone to place regular phone calls; rather it can only be used with the videophone itself.

You can connect the DVC-1000 to a computer, but you'll need some sort of capture device or card that supports RCA style inputs. But as the DVC-1000 was designed to be used with a TV, its preset focal distance is not ideal for use with a computer monitor. The focus can be adjusted somewhat, but clearly was not meant for large deviations. Additionally, the DVC-1000 is controlled by its remote control; almost all input is done via the remote. Some interesting specs are the ARM-9 processor; as this is a standalone device, the DVC-1000 must have the power necessary to compress and decompress video and audio properly. Additionally, D-Link has made the videophone firmware upgradeable, so any issues and new features may be addressed and added. The data rates refer to what the maximum send and receive rates of the DVC-1000 can be set to, and these figures must be set manually. As the DVC-1000 conforms to the video and audio standards relating to H.323, it'll work with many H.323 compliant clients out there.

The DVC-1000 came nicely packaged as many of D-Link's products do, and was well protected. The videophone itself came with a rubber lens cap on, to protect the lens from dust and scratches, and it's a good idea to keep the lens cap in place when you're not using the device. The remote came with 2xAAA batteries; it's nice to see that you don't need to rush out and buy these little things to get this product working. The A/V cables and a CAT-5 cable for data were also included. The included Quick Install Guide and Manual were also up to par, each being full of screen shots and helpful pictures to guide you on your way. D-Link wanted the DVC-1000 to be an easy to use solution, and the starting point of this was their always-informative manuals. Overall, the DVC-1000 came in a complete package that left little to be desired, and it's nice to see D-Link put together a full package, rather than skimping on things to save a few cents per unit.


Standard D-Link packaging.
What's included.
CAT-5 cable, RCA cables and AC adapter.
Manual and Quick Install Guide.

Being fairly small, the DVC-1000 will fit nicely on top of almost any TV, and because of its small size, low weight and gripping feet, it'll stay where you put it. The only minor placement problems you might run into are a result of the length of the RCA and power cables; the RCA audio/video cables are only about 1.5m long, and the AC adapter is only 1.8m. If the connections on your TV/VCR are quite a ways away, or the power bar is is not close by, these distances will not suffice. A remote is pretty much necessary for operation as if you're not using a telephone as a handset, all the input will be done via the remote. However, this results in just one more remote being added to the collection of remotes around your TV or entertainment center.


DVC-1000 and remote are not big.
Top view.
Lens cap is on.
Side view.

The front of the unit shows the status of the DVC-1000 through a series of LEDs. The square LED to the immediate left of the lens shows the activity of a call - it'll be red when there's a call in progress. The remote sensor is to the right of the lens, and then comes the status LED and power LED. The status LED should only be on briefly when you power up the unit, otherwise it should be off unless the DVC-1000 is perhaps defective - useful as a quick diagnostic tool. As you can see from the side view, the DVC-1000 isn't bulky and hence won't look ugly on top of your TV. As with most consumer devices nowadays, the silver case is made of plastic.


Back view; you can hook up a mic or a telephone to use.
DVC-1000's mic for speakerphone.
Cap off; LED to the left of lens is red when videophone is active.
IR remote sensor and status, power LEDs.

There is a focusing ring around the lens, as is the case with many cameras. It is really only for making minute adjustments, which is all you should need to do; the ring is quite tight and when you turn it counter-clockwise it appears to unscrew and suddenly get loose, and if you're dumb enough to keep loosening it (like I did), the lens eventually comes out. Tightening the lens helps focus on more distance objects, while counter-clockwise motion helps to focus in closer. You shouldn't have to make a lot of adjustments though, as by default the DVC-1000 will focus well if you're about 8-10ft or so away - which is about how far you need to be if you want to be in the camera's field of view properly. Though the lens assembly can tilt up or down quite a bit, it can't swivel from side to side, so you'll need to position the whole entire unit accordingly during setup. A nice addition was the sticker on the bottom that explained all of the camera's connections and status lights; this is the same diagram found in the quick setup guide. It's a bit redundant though, as D-Link pretty much labelled every connection itself nicely.


Lens can tilt up...
... or down.
Reference diagram on bottom.

As the DVC-1000 is a standalone device that doesn't require a computer at all to use, a remote control is included, along with the batteries needed to operate it. It's pretty much a standard remote, not big at all at around 16cm in length. It's easy to hold, and the button placement with the Enter and arrow keys right where your thumb rests makes it easy to use as well. A number of buttons are in place to provide quick access to useful functions, such as the Enter button which brings up the on-screen keyboard for character input, and the cancel button, which backs you out of a menu quickly, removing the need to use the arrow keys to get to the cancel button on-screen.


The remote.
Neat layout.
Comes with...
... 2 AAA batteries.

The back of the unit sports all of the connections. A hard on/off switch is followed by the RJ-45 connector, a mic input, an RJ-11 phone jack for use with a telephone as a handset, and the RCA connectors for attachment to your TV. The Ethernet connection has the small status and activity LEDs as any normal jack should have, and as mentioned before, the interface sports only a 10Mbps connection; this shouldn't matter as the necessary data rate for the DVC-1000 is far below this.

However the most interesting connection on the back is the phone jack, which allows you to hook up a regular telephone. I was initially confused at this, but it's pretty simple. A phone connected to the DVC-1000 will *not* be able to make regular phone calls as it's not connected to a phone line any more, but instead the phone's handset will be used as an input/output device for the DVC-1000. Basically, this transforms the DVC-1000 into a true videophone that operates in the same way as a regular phone. When you want to make a call, you simply take the phone off its hook (or press "Talk" if you've connected a cordless phone), and the DVC-1000 will detect that the phone is engaged; it will then prompt you to dial a number or select a speed-dial entry - you can do both just by using the keypad on the phone's handset. Similarly, when someone calls you, picking up the phone will answer the call. This feature indicates D-Link was very much aiming to make the DVC-1000 easy to use for everyone - by making the basic operation as similar to a phone as possible, this has ensured that almost everyone should be able to use it easily.


No mic input on the old version. (Pic copyright D-Link)
Connectors: Part I.
Connectors: Part II.
Everything is colour-coded.

Using a phone also enables full-duplex audio; that is you will be able to talk and hear the other person at the same time. While using the speakerphone in the DVC-1000, audio is only half-duplex; you will only be able to talk or listen, but not do both at the same time. What is worse is that speakerphone automatically determines when the noise level is high enough to transmit; thus if you're in a loud room the speakerphone will always been transmitting audio, and because of the half-duplex impediment, you won't be able to hear the other side.

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Installation

Before starting up the DVC-1000, you'll need to know what type of Internet connection will be available to it. As indicated, a broadband connection such as cable or DSL will be needed to satisfy the DVC-1000's data transfer requirements. Now, most of you won't be hooking up this directly to your cable or DSL modem, as that would prohibit you from using your connection with anything else, so practically the only other option is to use a home gateway/router to share your Internet connection among your network devices, as purchasing an additional IP address can be pricey or not even an available option. With decent home gateways widely available for low prices, this makes this option even more likeable. However, with this option you'll need open and forward some ports to the IP address that you assign to the DVC-1000; these ports are 1720 for TCP, and ports 15328-15333 for both TCP and UDP packets. I'm assuming that port 1720 is used as a connection port to establish a link between two devices, and that ports 15328-15333 are used to transfer the actual data as UDP is required. Anyway, this shouldn't be hard as most routers, such as D-Link's own, have an interface that allows you to do just this. The only caveat is that you'll have to specific a static IP address for the DVC-1000 so that your router will be able to forward these ports to it.


Personal Info.
Network Info.
DNS information. (So that the DVC-1000 can contact the directory server, get updates, etc.)
These are preset values for send/receive. (Can be manually adjusted later for your connection.)

Upon turning the DVC-1000 on, you're greeted by a first-time welcome screen that explains how to enter information via the remote control. You're then prompted to enter your personal information. Your area code and phone number can be anything, as long as they're 3 digits and 7 digits respectively. However, it's advisable to use your own so people will be able to contact you. This information will be registered in a directory server along with your IP address, possibly D-Link's own, and this service allows someone to call you by the phone number you've entered here rather than by your IP address. Since many of us have Internet connections that provide dynamic IP addys, this feature is very useful. It's sort of like the DNS service; the DVC-1000 will periodically update the directory entry with the phone number you've provided and your IP addy, so while your IP addy might change, your phone number won't, and when people "dial" this phone number, their DVC-1000 will check the directory for an IP address linked with your phone number, and that is how it will know what IP addy to make the connection to. The DVC-1000 will automatically detect your public IP addy, that is, the one your router receives from your ISP and use this one in the directory service; you can specify a public IP if needed, or just use the DVC-1000's private IP if you only want to use the videophone on a private network.

Next, you'll need to know your network information - here is where you can set a static IP for the DVC-1000, and if your home gateway is using NAT, this IP will be a private one, such as 192.168.1.13. After that, you'll need to know the IP address of your DNS servers. Usually a home router will provide some sort of DNS forwarding, so you can enter its IP addy here. The last thing that's needed is to select your connection. The presets of Cable Modem, DSL modem and T1 are merely suggested send and receive rates; each can be individually selected after initial setup. After that is done, the DVC-1000 reboots and installation is pretty much complete!


Restarting...
Boot-up screen.

The following diagram from D-Link does a pretty good job at explaining the connection between two videophones. Here home gateway/routers are used on both sides so that a single Internet connection with one public IP address can be shared using NAT amongst several network devices, one of them being the DVC-1000 videophone. Both sides are using a telephone so that they can both enjoy full duplex audio, that is, they can both talk and hear each other simultaneously. Again, the telephone is connected directly to the DVC-1000 and functions as a handset so you can dial each other and talk/hear from the receiver; it is not connected to a regular phone line, and hence cannot function as a telephone - it is now merely an extension (albeit a very useful one) that makes videophone usage very similar to regular telephone usage. Very briefly, when one side picks up the receiver and dials a number, the DVC-1000 will contact a directory service and check for an IP address corresponding to that phone no., and once it finds it, the videophone will attempt to make a connection to that IP address, and if successful, the videophone conversation can then begin. You can always dial someone's IP address manually if you know it, using the remote control.


Pic copyright D-Link


Ready for usage!
On-screen keyboard usage.

The only thing that's annoying is the use of the keypad to enter characters. It brings back memories of any number of older console games (since I don't own a modern console), and the process is slow. However, I'm being a little picky as you rarely have to enter anything but numbers, and those are provided for on the remote's keypad. Another was the lack of a dedicated back button - while the left arrow button on the remote acts as a backspace button, when you're using the on screen keyboard to enter characters, the left arrow must be used to move around, and so to backspace you have to get out the keyboard screen (by hitting cancel) and then using left arrow, or move all the way down to the backspace entry on the keyboard - which is very tedious. A dedicated backspace key could have been more helpful, but as with my first complaint, this only applies during the small times when you have to enter letters.


Remote control; the picture on D-Link's site shows a different RC.

Here is a page from D-Link's quick install guide explaining the remote control's buttons. The Audio and Video privacy buttons prevent the other side from hearing or seeing you when pressed; the 'A' key enables speakerphone mode using the DVC-1000's built in mic, and the 'B' key tells the camera to auto-adjust the contrast. The View buttons are also useful; the top one switches between a full screen view and a split picture-in-picture mode, while the Self/Remote button swaps the view between the remote view (person you are calling) and the self-view. All of these functions can be accessed in menus in the DVC-1000's configuration, but it is nice to have them on the remote, as during a conversation it's easier to adjust them this way. The numpad is similar to a telephone's, and this is no mistake as D-Link wanted the DVC-1000 to be as similar to a telephone experience as possible; the Asterisk (*) also doubles as a period or dot (.) when you are entering or dialing by IP addresses. The 'A' and 'B' buttons' functions were cryptic until the manual was consulted; even more strange is that the remote that is pictured on D-Link's site is different and has these buttons labelled; I'm not sure which version is newer but perhaps the buttons were labelled A and B so that if a firmware update changed their function the labels wouldn't be totally confusing.

Testing

I tested the DVC-1000 videophones with one at my end through my DSL connection, and another at my parent's through their cable modem. I tested the phones at around 3-4pm, not exactly primetime, but you should get an idea of performance in any event. I did not have any newer teleconferencing software to test with - but I believe any H.323-compliant client that supports the same audio and video standards ought to work with it - though it *seems* the DVC-1000 videophones will work best with one another.

I have included a video of the different menus and configuration available after the initial setup that you may watch; It's only around 1.75MB and requires DivX 4 or higher to view. (The video was captured using a Hauppauge WinTV-Radio TV tuner.)


DivX video showing menus: ~1.75MB

The first menu, Dial, offers the ability to add up to 10 names and their phone numbers/IP addys to your speed dial list. These entries can be added, removed or edited at will - each should specify another videophone, preferably another DVC-1000 user. Alternatively, you can manually dial a person not in your speed dial list. If you have a telephone hooked up to the DVC-1000, picking up the receiver will automatically prompt you to dial a number, either from your speed dial list or manually using the keypad on the phone - this is a VERY easy way to use the videophone that makes it accessible to all. Once the DVC-1000 is setup, this pretty much the only menu you'll need to use.

The View menu offers different options for display. The default view, which is what is shown, has the big picture showing the other side and the small one showing you; Full-screen removes the menus and leaves the entire screen for showing the remote side with a small picture-in-picture of what your DVC-1000 camera shows. As mentioned before, you can switch between these two views using a button on the remote, useful in the middle of a conversation. Checking the option, "Display Connection Status", replaces the bottom banner with information about data rates, packet loss, etc., while "View Connection Details" brings you to another screen showing what protocols are being used for the connection. These are too useful during normal usage but can be helpful when or if problems start popping up.

The Settings menu has four submenus. General allows you set certain things, among them turning off the beeping noises normally accompanying user input. Automatically Adjusting contrast will tell the DVC-1000 to re-adjust its contrast every 30 seconds - you can tell it to re-adjust its contrast immediately by pressing the 'B' button on the remote. You can change your Personal Info, which is stored in a directory server, allowing people to dial your number and contact you, and also adjust any network details if anything changes. A note about speed, you'll not want to set the maximum send speed too high; this can result in too many dropped packets and hence a lower frame rate for the receiving side. Lastly, the Update menu allows you to either have the DVC-1000 automatically check for firmware updates, or to immediately check for an update.

In Privacy menu you can turn off video or audio transmission, so that you can prevent the other side from viewing or hearing you - useful if you're making a call in the morning without anything on! (Video privacy can be enabled by default on each call in the General section, but I felt this option should have been here instead.) Do Not Disturb denies any incoming calls, a nice feature if you keep the DVC-1000 on all the time.

In actual tests, the performance was acceptable - actual performance more relies on the quality and speed of your Internet connection than anything else. Usually one's upload speed will be less than the download, and hence this will be the limiting factor. I am fortunate enough to have a rated upload speed of at least 384kbps; I set the max upload speed of the DVC-1000 to this value and didn't experience any problems, in that there was not abnormally high packet loss. At this rate, the video ranged between 18-24fps; the lower figure resulted from excessive movement and was accompanied by artifacting such as pixelation in the video - not very pretty. If you've watched those embedded reporters making their live reports from the field on CNN recently, you'll get an idea of what that pixelation is like, however I must emphasize that the extent of this on the DVC-1000 was no where near what was seen on those live field reports. However, you're not likely to be moving around a lot, and in most cases you'll be sitting down somewhere in front of the camera - where this gets to be a problem is if you having a lot of moving stuff in the background; in this case you'll probably want to reposition.

Before I go any further, I'll make a few points. The DVC-1000 supports a max resolution of 352x288; this format is called CIF or Common Intermediate Format. The videophone will transmit at this resolution unless for some reason the other side's client cannot read this format; in this case it'll step down to a Quarter-CIF resolution of 176x144, or a Sub-Quarter-CIF resolution of 128x96. All testing was done at the CIF resolution of 352x288.

Now because many cable and DSL companies unduly restrict their users' upload to around 16KB/s or a data rate of 128kbps, I set the max upload speed of the DVC-1000 to this value to test video performance. In this case the video dropped to between 10-15fps, an acceptable level. In fact, even with the upload rate set to the lowest value of 96Kbps, image quality was acceptable along with frame rates as long as there was not excessive movement.

Problems arise from the camera's image at low or room light levels. Frankly, images tend to be a little dark and so therefore it can be hard to see the person you're calling in the absence of adequate lighting conditions. Also, when using the DVC-1000's built in microphone in speakerphone mode, problems arise with half-duplex audio; if you're not speaking loud enough your voice won't be transmitted and consequently, if your room is too loud, your side won't stop transmitting so you won't get a chance to hear the other side. D-Link recommends you stay about 6-8 feet away when using speakerphone mode, and I generally found this to be okay, but nonetheless I fully recommend using a telephone as a handset for the DVC-1000, as full duplex audio is much more natural and the use of a phone receiver is much more conducive to communication. You'll probably want to use a cordless phone so that you can have some more freedom of movement. Audio quality was acceptable, and around telephone quality - expected since a telephone receiver was being used.

Conclusion

Despite the setbacks with frame rates at slower speeds and problems with low lighting, the DVC-1000 managed to deliver an easy to use, and user-friendly videophone in a standalone package - exactly what its aims were. The 352x288 resolution offered was more than good enough for real-time videophone communication - and the image quality was decent. Combined with an upload speed of at least 128Kbps or 16KB/s, the frame rates were acceptable. Setup of the DVC-1000 was very simple and because it doesn't require a PC you avoid the possibility of hardware or software conflicts. About the only configuration you'll need to do outside of the videophone itself is in your home gateway or router. This can be difficult for a new comer but once it's setup, little or no maintenance is required.

But the major selling points of the DVC-1000 are its availability and intuitive usage. Indeed, when used with a telephone and its receiver/handset, the videophone operates just like a regular phone - except that video is included, of course! This, along with compatibility with H.323 video conferencing standards makes the DVC-1000 a very viable option in the videophone market. I can only hope that D-Link will release a firmware upgrade that will allow some adjustment of brightness so that the camera will work better in room or low light.

Pros

Cons

Overall, the DVC-1000 is a very suitable product for home or small business users who want something a little more innovative and easy to use for communication. Many thanks go out to D-Link for making this review possible.

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